


By the Paw

by SerStolas



Series: Witches, Familiars, and Books, Oh My [1]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cat BB-8, Familiars, Fluff, M/M, Romantic Tropes, Witches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-31
Updated: 2017-10-19
Packaged: 2018-12-22 06:45:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 14,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11961894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerStolas/pseuds/SerStolas
Summary: Finn lives with a foot in two worlds - the world of technology and daily life that everyone knows, and then one of magic and sorcery.  While he's fairly certain he has little magic talent of his own, he can feel it and see it.  Arriving in D'Qar after escaping the oppressive and shadowy First Order, Finn manages to find a life for himself among the locals, magical and non-magical.  And then one day he comes across someone's lost familiar, and his world gets turned on its head, again.COMPLETE





	1. The Cat

**Author's Note:**

> Star Wars belongs to LucasArts/Disney

There were days Finn was grateful he lived in a small town, and there were days he almost hated it.

The biggest problem with living in a small town was how everybody knew everyone else. When he'd first arrived a few years ago, there'd been a lot of curiosity and questions about the newcomer. Explaining that he'd been raised and trained by an organization to hunt down witches and other people or creatures of the magical persuasion was awkward at best, and likely to cause people to hate him at worst.

Luckily, when he'd escaped the First Order, he'd fallen into fairly decent company. Rey, a young witch of enormous potential, and her occasionally crotchety father had been some of the first people Finn met outside of the Order.

As he carefully wiped the counter around the tea kettles they used at Tomes and Tea Leaves, he thought back to the chain of events that had lead him here.

He'd been twenty one, the perfect age, the First Order believed, to send out their hunters. It was beyond the final age that most people ever showed any hint of magical talent of their own. The First Order acquired orphans who had magical potential and trained them as hunters and soldiers. If any developed magical abilities during their time with the Order, then they were transferred into the Knights of Ren, an elite group of witches the Order kept to do their own dirty work. Otherwise, you were trained to sense and resist magic, until the age of 21 when the Order would send you on your first mission. 

Finn recalled now how many children vanished during training, and how many actually made it to 21. 

He and his small squad of age-mates had been instructed to attack a local coven at a gathering and kill them. All they'd been told was that these witches opposed the First Orders ways, and therefore needed to be put down.

Finn had found himself holding back, during the attack on that coven. In the chaos and aftermath, the First Order had briefly taken one of the witches prisoner.

He remembered the feeling of wrongness that had overcome him while he'd watched his squad mates killing those who they claim opposed them (Finn still wasn't sure how the First Order managed to evade the scrutiny of local mortal authorities over this kind of thing, and he really wasn't sure if he wanted to know). They'd thrown the man in the back of a van and were holding him while the First Order swept the site, clearing any trace of their presence.

Finn had taken the chance and knocked out Nines, the hunter assigned to guard the van, and flung the door open to reveal a man at least a few years older than Finn himself. Together they'd made a desperate dash into the surrounding forest. In the few hours they'd been together, before they'd been forced to separate in an effort to avoid pursuit, the man, Poe, had given Finn the only name he'd ever known. 

Finn could only ever assume that Poe had escaped. He hoped Poe had escaped. Finn's own escape had come by quite literally taking a dive off a cliff and into a river below, washing up on shore miles downriver. 

That's when he'd been found by Rey Skywalker and her father, Luke. Under their penetrating gazes, Finn found himself confessing everything. While Finn consumed a bowl of soup (his first real food in a few days), Rey and Luke had evidently conversed and decided to trust Finn, based on their intuition (something Finn still wasn't quite sure -he- trusted), and taken him back to D'Qar, a small town where magical and non-magical residents actually managed to live side by side and with full awareness of each other. Upon arrival Finn had found himself subjected to yet another round of...well he wouldn't call it interrogation, but questioning, by the town's mayor and witch Leia Organa, they'd decided to let him stay.

Leia's spouse, Han Solo, had given Finn a job at Tomes and Tea Leaves, a bookshop that carried both magical and non magical tomes (Han's friend Chewie took care of the witchery around the shop, since Han was about as talented as Finn estimated himself to be), and he'd been here since.

Finn checked the clock again, noting that the small bookshop was empty of customers, but it was a week night, and it was almost closing time, so he wasn't too surprised. He went about cleaning up the small serving bar where they made tea for customers, thinking that he wouldn't get any more visitors tonight. He could hear Chewie in the stacks, carefully organizing tomes through some obscure method only witches seemed to understand.

Gathering up the day's used tea leaves, Finn made for the back door to dump them in the compost heap. As he emptied the bin, he heard a soft _meow_ nearby.

Setting the empty bin down, Finn moved around the composter and found himself regarding a beraggled white and marmalade colored cat. His senses told him instantly that this was no ordinary cat, but someone's familiar. He did not, however see or sense any other witches around but Chewie back in the shop.

Shrugging as the cat peered up at him and meowed again, Finn knelt down and reached out to scratch the cat's ears, checking him for injuries or a collar. The cat hissed at first, but then after Finn held his hand out for it to sniff, it allowed him to touch it. He did find a white leather color carefully fastened around the cat's neck and a simple metal tag that read "BB-8."

"Weird name for a cat," Finn murmured to himself. He sighed. "Well, can't leave you out here, Chewie'd get mad if I did. You don't look hurt, but you definitely look lost." Carefully, he tried to pick the cat up (a boy, he discovered), and eyed BB-8 as the cat slumped over his arms, and carried the cat inside.

"Hey Chewie, I just found someone's lost familiar out back," he informed the witch as he came through the back door. 

Chewie muttered in a language Finn still couldn't speak and then said, "Bring it in and let me see. You close up shop."

The tall, red haired and bearded man appeared from the stacks to regard the orange and white cat. Finn handed the cat over, not entirely surprised when BB-8 went willingly, and then went about the processing of closing the shop up for the night and finishing evening cleanup while Chewie communicated, he assumed on some other level with the cat.

Forty five minutes later as he was locking the last of the cabinets, Chewie appeared beside him (he must have gone into the back office with the cat), and deposited BB-8 back into Finn's arms. "You will take BB-8 home tonight and bring him back to the shop tomorrow. Han and Leia know his witch, and they can contact him this evening."

Finn lifted his dark brows. "Why can't you take him home?"

Chewie gave him a inscrutable look. "You are the one who first found him, so you must take care of him until he is reunited with his witch. It may mess with fate otherwise."

Finn frowned. "Wait, what? You're saying I was fated to find this cat?"

"Something like that," Chewie replied, crossing his arms over his massive chest. He was giving Finn that look that said that arguing over this was pointless.

Finn sighed, deciding it must be a witch thing (as so many things in his life he didn't quite understand about this town were), and nodded. "Fine, I'll take BB-8 home." Luke and Rey lived next door and would have cat food and litter from their own cat, R2-D2, and could give him some to appease BB-8 for the evening.

Chewie nodded his approval. "Good. Tomorrow."

With that, the giant man vanished back into the back office, leaving Finn to figure out how he was going to carry BB-8 home.


	2. The Witch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finn meets the witch who is bonded with BB-8, and finds himself facing a face from the past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Star Wars belongs to Disney/LucasArts

BB-8 had, of course, absolutely refused to use the cat carrier that Finn had managed to borrow from a neighbor, and Finn had ended up carrying the orange and white familiar home. Finn could only be glad that the weather seemed willing to cling to summer, though Autumn was officially only a few weeks away, and that he lived only a few blocks from Tomes and Tea Leaves.

With his battered backpack slung over his shoulders, and the orange and white familiar settled around his neck in a fox fur position (BB-8 had promptly climbed onto Finn's shoulder and then settled into that position once Finn admitted defeat over the cat carrier), he made the short walk home, occasionally getting a few curious looks from his neighbors because everyone in town knew he wasn't a witch, but everyone seemed to realize instantly that BB-8 was a familiar.

As he climbed the steps to his side of the duplex he currently rented from the Skywalkers, Rey was coming out the other door. The brown haired girl took a single look at Finn and the cat draped around his neck, and blow brows rose almost to her forehead. "When did you become a witch?"

Finn scowled faintly at her as he fished his key out and unlocked his door. "I'm not. BB-8 showed up at the shop this afternoon and Chewie insisted because I found him, I had to take care of him until his witch came to get him. Chewie said BB's witch should be at the shop tomorrow sometime."

"So Chewie knows who this familiar belongs to?" Rey nodded, seeming unsurprised by this news. "At least you won't have to take care of him for too long. Let me get a can of food and some of R2's litter so you can set a box up for BB-8 for the night." She tilted her head. "Feels like I should know your witch, little buddy," she told BB, reaching out to pet the cat. BB-8 mrewed and leaned into Rey's hand.

"Don't know why Chewie couldn't take him home," Finn sighed. "Not like I have any pets, or familiars," he corrected himself quickly before Rey could tell him that a familiar was not a pet. "Chewie said something about fate and how I had to take care of him tonight."

Rey's hand paused mid pat and she met Finn's dark brown eyes. "Fate, hmm?" She looked thoughtful. "If Chewie said it was fate, it is. Something big's going to happen, and this little visitor is the catalyst."

The last time something big had happened in Finn's life, he'd rescued a man from the First Order and then lost him in the woods. Occasionally even now he'd think back to Poe, and how some part of him inexplicably missed a man he'd only known for a matter of minutes.

"If you say so," Finn replied dubiously. Never argue with a witch, he thought, particularly a Skywalker, they had too good a track record of being right.

Hours later, Finn and BB-8 were ensconced on Finn's bed. The cat had used the temporary litterbox Finn had set up for him, thankfully, and quite happily nibbled away at the cat food and drank from the water bowl that Finn had set up for him. When Finn had wandered towards his bedroom for bed, BB-8 had followed, climbed up onto the bed, and promptly claimed one of the pillows.

Finn now leaned back against his own pillow, reading a tome that Han had suggested, and occasionally glanced at BB-8. He'd debated trying to fight the cat over sleeping on his bed, or the pillow, but he wasn't allergic, and right now he didn't feel like arguing with a cat, particularly a familiar. Rey's remark that something big was going to happen weighed on his mind, and had him worrying what it might be.

"Think you can give me any hints?" he asked BB-8.

The cat peered up at him from washing his paws, mrewed, and went back to washing his paws.

"Guess that's as good an answer as I'll get," Finn sighed. He closed the book and set it on the bedside table before flipping off the light, but it was hours before he finally fell asleep.

~~

Mid morning on a weekday was always quiet at Tomes and Tea Leaves, and Finn was reviewing the inventory while BB-8 sat in a nearby chair, napping in a sunbeam. 

Chewie had shown up that morning, advised Finn that the familiar's witch would be stopping by that afternoon, and vanished again, promising to be there in the evening to deal with the Wednesday evening tarot card readings.

Finn glanced up from the store's laptop as he sipped his tea, taking in the sight of the orange and white cat who somehow managed to look as if he totally belonged there.

"I guess there are some days that you fit here far better than I do," Finn said conversationally as he watched the cat.

BB-8's ear twitched and the cat opened its golden eyes to watch him.

"What with me being raised by the First Order and all, and this town being a haven for witches," Finn continued, glancing absently at the door. Everyone in town knew his past, and most people thought he'd been brave to shrug off the teachings of the First Order, but there were still a few that looked on him with suspicion. After Rey's words last night, Finn couldn't help but worry that the First Order might have something to do with the "big thing" Rey had mentioned. Finn had followed news in the magical world over the past few years since his escape, and other than a few reported attacks, the First Order had been quiet.

It made him uneasy.

While he was thinking all of this, BB-8 had slipped off the chair and crossed behind the desk. Finn glanced down when he felt the cat brushing up against his leg. Feeling slightly amused, Finn bent down to pick up the cat, letting BB-8 settle in his arms for a moment while he scratched the familiar behind the ears. "Guess that's your way of telling me I do belong here?" Finn asked along.

BB-8 responded with a purr.

Finn set BB-8 on the counter with some reluctance a few minutes later. "Sorry," he told the familiar as he gave Finn a reproachful look. "I need to finish inventory."

BB-8 seemed to huff, then settled into a comfortable spot on the counter as Finn got back to work.

The morning came and went with a few visitors, a few giving curious looks to BB-8 on the counter, they all knew the cat couldn't be Chewie's familiar, since that was a foul tempered, but adorable, guinea pig, and Han didn't have a familiar. BB-8 let Lando pet him, but drew back from everyone else. Finn wasn't quite sure what to make of the cat's behavior, since BB-8 clearly seemed to like Finn (he'd woken up to BB-8 sprawled across his feet), but didn't seem interested at all in some of the witches in town.

As noon passed, Finn found himself glancing towards the clock several times, wondering when BB-8's witch would show up.

"Not that I don't like your company, but I sort of want to know who you are paired with," Finn told the cat.

It was seventeen minutes passed two when Chewie returned. The red haired, bearded giant nodded a greeting to Finn and began setting up his table to the left side of the store for the afternoon tarot card readings.

"Hmm, his witch not come by yet?" Chewie asked as he eyed BB-8, comfortably sprawled on the counter while Finn read a book, waiting for customers.

"Not yet," Finn replied with a shrug that belied his anxiousness. 

"He'll be here soon," Chewie assured Finn.

The bell above the door rang and Finn glanced up to see Rey wandering in with a small cardboard food box (biodegradable). 

"Thought you might have forgotten lunch again," Rey told him cheerfully and handed Finn the box.

Finn accepted the box gratefully, glad to find a sandwich and chips inside. "Thanks Rey. Didn't have the chance to leave the store for lunch," he murmured before biting into the sandwich.

"I see your friend is still here," Rey remarked as she scratched BB behind the ears.

"His witch will be here soon," Chewie repeated for Rey's benefit, smiling as the girl crossed the store and paused from setting up his cards to engulf the young witch in a hug. "All things come in good time."

"Well, something's definitely up," Rey informed them as Chewie let her go. "Aunt Leia said that there've been reports of witches being harassed by unseen assailants over the past few weeks, beyond the town limits."

Chewie frowned at those words. "Do we know who?" 

Rey shook her head. "Aunt Leia isn't sure. She has a witch investigating it though. I hope it isn't-"

"The First Order," a grim voice finished for her.

Three heads swung towards the door, as none of them had heard the bell ringing. Finn blinked at a man with deep brown eyes and wild brown curls pushed the door open fully to let himself in. It swung silently on its hinges behind him. "Unforunately, it is."

Dismay flickered over Rey's expression and she glanced towards Finn, who's own expression had darkened at the mention of his former captors.

"They're active again?" Finn found himself asking, gripping the edge of the counter. "Shit."

"Shit is right," the other man replied with a humorlous laugh.

"So that's what Leia sent you to look into," Chewie spoke up, his voice sounding unsurprised. "Still, I am glad you made it home safely, Poe, even with bad news."

"Poe?" Finn's gaze jerked up, as he'd been lost in his own thoughts for a moment.

His mind whirled as he finally took a really good look at the man standing in front of the shop door. "Poe, Poe Dameron?" he asked, partly in shock, partly in awe.

This was the man he'd rescued from the First Order. This was the man he'd run through the woods with. This was the man he thought he'd lost, the first person to call Finn anything other than just the number the First Order had given him. Finn didn't realize he'd moved until he was already out from behind the counter, and standing just a few feet front Poe. Out of the corner of his eye he saw BB-8 launch himself off the counter and directly into Poe's arms.

"BB?" Poe's eyes lit up as he caught the cat with a practiced move and cuddled the familiar for a moment. "You made it back safely."

"Yeah, he showed up behind the shop last night," Finn informed Poe.

Poe's eyes lifted from the cat, and warmed further when he recognized Finn. As BB clamored up onto Poe's shoulder, Poe embraced Finn, and Finn found himself embracing the other man in welcome. 

"Finn, you're alive?" Poe asked in a tone close to wonder.

"Yeah," Finn replied. "And you, you're alive!"

"What happened?" Poe asked. "That night, when we got separated?"

"I went over a cliff into the river," Finn told him. "Rey and Luke Skywalker found me, brought me back to D'Qar. I've been working for Han since."

Poe smirked faintly. "Well aren't you just like a cat, landing on your feet." He pulled back, but kept a hand on Finn's shoulder. "It's damn good to see you, buddy."

"You too, Poe," Finn said, feeling something shift inside him. While he still felt anxious, and angry, about the First Order, something in the world seemed to shift, and everything felt right with Poe standing in front of him.

"Ahem. The First Order?" Rey asked, interupting them after a few minutes.

Poe sighed, glancing back towards her. "Yeah, the First Order. I'm meeting with Leia and your father tonight, but Leia said I'd want to stop at Tomes and Tea Leaves first." 

"Leia will want Finn there," Chewie informed them all in a steady tone. "With what inside knowledge he may have of the way the Order works."

Finn tensed a moment, but he nodded. "I'll come," he promised.

"Chewie, can Poe borrow Finn for the rest of the afternoon?" Rey asked suddenly, regarding the two men. "I can stay and help here at the shop."

Chewie gave Rey an amused look. "I think that's an excellent idea, Rey. They probably have quite a bit to catch up on."

Finn found himself looking at Poe with a hopeful, but somewhat uncertain look, and was surprised to see the same look in Poe's eyes.

"I think you're right, Rey," Poe replied, squeezing Finn's shoulder again. "Wrap it up here and then meet me outside?"

"Yeah," Finn found himself agreeing. "See you tonight, Chewie?"

At the bearded witch's nod, Finn went back to the counter to gather his things, feeling both elated, and nervous, at this rather momentous turn of events.


	3. Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poe and Finn have a chance to discuss their reunion.
> 
> And yeah, I just -had- to go and throw that additional bit in, because it is a favorite AU type of mine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Star Wars belongs to LucasArts/Disney.
> 
> find me on tumblr nytemere.tumblr.com

Somehow Finn found himself at The Soup and Supper, a local cafe run by Karé Kun and "Snap" Wexley. Finn certainly could agree with Poe that the cafe was preferable to fast food options. He also knew that Snap was a genius kitchen witch and managed to mix a chicken noodle soup that really -could- cure a cold, among other things.

Finn had found himself grinning at Snap and Karé's reaction when they'd entered the cafe, and the shout of surprise as Karé literally launched herself over the counter to pull Poe into a friendly embrace.

"Dumbass, always getting yourself into extra trouble," Karé told Poe when he admitted he'd taken longer to get back to down because he'd been tailed. From their banter, Finn figured out that Poe had been running recon missions and searching for signs of the first order for almost two years for Leia Organa. It explained why Finn hadn't seen Poe in town prior to today.

And when Karé and Snap discovered Finn had once gotten Poe out of First Order custody, when Finn had gone on the run, they were suitably impressed.

"The fact that you ran into Rey and Skywalker, and ended up here in D'Qar. Fucking fate," Karé informed Finn.

There was that word again, Fate. Everyone in this town put a lot of stock into fate. The First Order had always taught that Fate was meant to be manipulated. People here clearly believed otherwise.

Now they sat at a table with a couple of Karé's scones and hot tea, discussing the past few years.

"That BB went to the shop where you worked, rather than straight to Leia's," Poe's voice sounded amused, and pleased. "They're right, buddy. I think you and I were meant to meet again."

"It only took two years," Finn murmured, still not sure how much he accepted this fate business.

Poe gave him a lopsided smile and out across the table, placing his hand over Finn's. It shot a spike of pleasant warmth through Finn, and made his heart skip just a bit. "Sorry about that buddy. If I could have come back to D'Qar before, I would have, believe me, but I had work to do for Leia. I wondered what happened to you. I knew you couldn't be dead, but I didn't know where you were, if you were safe.."

Poe trailed off and Finn lifted a brow at the other man as Poe took a sip of tea to cover his pause.

When Poe didn't say anything, Finn felt like he needed to tell the man his own feelings on the matter. "I hoped you were safe, but I wasn't sure," he said. "After we got separated...I couldn't find any sign of you, and well," he heaved a sigh. "Guess I should have asked around a bit more, but as far away as we had been, I didn't think you could possibly be from D'Qar."

Even though Finn thought he'd managed to smother the pain he'd felt at losing Poe that first time, it appeared Poe could read it in his gaze. Poe's hand was still on Finn's and he squeezed Finn's hand. "Sun and Moon, I'm sorry, Finn. I didn't even think to tell you where I was from when we were running." He frowned slightly. "You couldn't...sense me? Couldn't tell I was alive?"

Finn's brows creased. "I'm not a witch, Poe, how could I be able to tell a man I met once and spent a few hours with was alive."

"Then you didn't realize that-" Poe shook his head, his words trailing off again. He smiled a little sadly. "Being raised by the First Order, I guess you wouldn't have realized, wouldn't even think that"

"That what, Poe?" Finn was frowning now, leaning forward as he felt Poe's hand tracing designs on his hand.

"That you're soulmates," Karé's voice interrupted both of them. She was standing at their table with her hands on her hips, fixing Poe with a slight glare and the other man shifted uncomfortably.

"Soulmates?" Finn sputtered. "But that's just a myth."

Karé snorted. "Myth? Nah, that's just what the First Order taught you. Poe knew you were alive because he could sense you through your bond. You should have been able to sense him too." She frowned. "Makes me wonder what all the Order taught you. When you saw Poe again, it felt right, didn't it, like everything fell into place?"

Finn's eyes went wide and he glanced once at Poe, then back to Karé, nodding slowly.

She sighed a little. "Maybe we witches take it for granted, that we can sense if our soulmate is alive or not. The First Order never trained you properly. In fact I wonder if they taught you to suppress it instead, so you wouldn't have known how to reach out to even know Poe was alive."

Finn was frowning again. "What do you mean, taught me to suppress it? I don't have any talent, Karé."

"So says the First Order," Karé snorted. "It's a wonder Skywalker hasn't insisted on training you, but maybe they just wanted to let you really settle in first, get used to life outside the order."

Finn shot a tentative look at Poe. "I'm not a witch...and you're, we're.."

"No, you're not, but you might have some potential to be," Poe replied, his expression sympathetic. "And yes, Finn, you and I are soulmates." He sighed. "And I am desperately glad to be reunited with you, even if the timing completely sucks."

"Why does the timing completely suck?" Finn asked, his mind still whirling at the idea that soulmates were real, and that he had one, and his soulmate was a man he'd secretly dreamed about for the past two years.

Poe gave him another lopsided smile. "Because the First Order is active again, which means the lives of witches in D'Qar could get rather unpleasant soon, if we don't strike first."

Finn didn't care for that idea. "So we act first."

"That's certainly the idea," Poe replied. He squeezed Finn's hand again. "Look, Finn, I know this is all a bit of a shock for you. I'm not expecting sudden declarations of love. I just want time to get to know you, as we can, spend time with you, let you get to know me, as events allow, anyway. That okay?"

Finn took a deep breath. Rey had been right, things were getting flipped on their head again, and all of this seemed to be moving fast. Yesterday he hadn't even known BB-8 was Poe's familiar. Now he knew Poe was alive and was his soulmate. And somewhere, outside D'Qar, the First Order was planning something.

But he remembered the emptiness he'd felt when he'd been separated from Poe, and the many thoughts he'd had of the other man over the past two years.

"That's okay," He replied, squeezing Poe's hand back, and was rewarded with a warm smile that made his heart flip. "I want to get to know you, as events allow."

"In the meantime, we'll meet with Leia tonight, layout the information I was able to gather, and compare it to what you know about the inner workings of the Order, go from there." When Poe outlined it that way, it made Finn feel a little better.

If the First Order was planning something, at least he wouldn't face it alone.

"Agreed." He smiled back at Poe. 

Maybe 'fate' wasn't so bad after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise next chapter there will be some better explanations about -why- Poe and Finn weren't seeking each other out during those two years.


	4. The Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finn and Poe discuss things for awhile and attend a meeting with Leia Organa.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Star Wars belongs to Disney/LucasArts

Finn wasn't entirely sure what to think about what he referred to mentally right now as 'the soulmate issue.'

He liked Poe, he'd liked Poe for the few hours that they'd been together and trying to escape the First Order. He'd thought a lot about Poe over the past few years. The fact that he and Poe were supposedly fated to be together would certainly explain -why- he'd had so many dreams and thoughts about Poe for two years. He just wasn't sure how much he liked all the secrecy. When he'd first met Luke and Rey, and later Leia Organa and Han Solo, he'd told them about Poe, he'd given them Poe's name.

Why had no one mentioned that Poe Dameron was originally from D'Qar?

"Pretty quiet over there, buddy," Poe mentioned as he sat next to Finn on a park bench, the two of them just killing time until they met with Leia. They'd returned to Tomes and Tea Leaves long enough to retrieve BB-8, who now sat purring on Poe's lap as Poe scratched the orange and white cat behind the ears. 

"Just trying to wrap my head around all of this," Finn admitted. He opened his eyes and glanced towards Poe, who was watching him with a mildly concerned expression. "I told Leia Organa who it was I'd rescued, the name you gave me. She never said anything. Luke and Rey, they never said a word."

Poe heaved a sigh and leaned forward, clasping his hands together as he formulated his thoughts. BB-8 hissed softly when Poe changed position and jumped onto the bench between Finn and Poe, eying them alternatively before setting his head on Finn's thigh and curling up to nap. "I don't know that they even realized I was still alive," he said slowly. "Though they could have mentioned I was from D'Qar. Thing is, except for communication through go-betweens, until I returned to town last night, I haven't been in direct contact with any of them. I've been gathering information on the First Order for a long time now." He lifted his brow eyes to Finn, his gaze torn. "I'm sorry, Finn."

Finn held Poe's gaze for several moments as he considered this.

It could be that they'd all kept quiet because they thought it was for Finn's safety. It annoyed him a bit, actually. He was 23, not 13, an adult that had probably seen more violence and death than a lot of people in this town. He wasn't fragile.

"You can't control what other people do," Finn said at last. "But promise me, Poe, no secrets between us? If there's something you can't tell me because of, well, work, we'll call it, at least give me an idea of why you can't tell me. I get that I'm younger than you, but I'm not a child." He heard BB-8 purring as he spoke, and found the sound oddly comforting. 

He supposed he'd need to get used to a cat being around, if this thing between him and Poe was going to go anywhere.

Poe looked a bit abashed. "That's a fair request." He lifted a brow. "Though I'll ask the same, honesty and communication."

Finn nodded slowly. "Hallmarks of any good relationship," he managed with mild humor. His expression turned serious. "So, soulmates...what all do you expect from all of this? What does anyone expect of it?"

"Usually soulmates translate into romantic pairings," Poe found himself choosing his words carefully. "Though it doesn't always. Sometimes they just end up as friends. And being soulmates doesn't guarentee you won't have problems. It means fate may mean for the two of you to be together, but whether you actually do or not is sort of up to the individuals involved."

"So it's more, we have perfect chemistry, but whether we actually work out as us being a thing is up to us?" Finn asked.

"Pretty much," Poe replied, rubbing the back of his neck. He glanced at BB-8. "My familiar likes you, which is a good sign. I've always considered BB-8 an excellent judge of character." His eyes met Finn's. "There was something there, in those few hours you and I spent together. I felt a spark. I liked you, hell, you saved me, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't attracted to you. Like I said earlier, I'd like to try us being together."

"Well, I agreed to give it a chance," Finn pointed out. "I'm physically attracted to you, that much I can say. And I thought about you a lot, while you were...gone. There are worse things to try and base dating someone on."

Poe gave him a hesitant smile, and Finn reached out, letting his fingers thread through Poes as they had earlier at the cafe. Poe's smile brightened. 

"So yeah, we can try dating. I'd prefer to be exclusive though," Finn told him.

Poe let out a sigh of relief. "Buddy, I don't know if I'd agree to anything less."

"Well, at least we've got that worked out." Finn glanced at his watch. "But we need to meet with Leia in less than half an hour now." He frowned. "What all is the First Order up to, Poe? What have you been doing, really, for the past two years?"

"Moving from place to place, looking for signs of the First Order," Poe replied. "There have been little signs, flyers left places, people getting threatening messages, that kind of thing. There's been a definite pattern. It appears that the Order has discovered that D'Qar happens to be home to a lot of witches. They're planning something, some kind of strike."

Finn frowned as he considered the implications of Poe's words. The First Order he knew worked in the shadows, sneaking up on people and then striking without warning. They'd caught Poe the first time almost by chance. He knew from stories growing up that they'd taken witches that were wary, but weren't prepared for someone actually hunting them down and killing them. 

The First Order used fear to cloud a person's mind, make them jump at shadows, and then when a person was so worried about other possible threats, they struck.

"That fits their pattern," Finn said carefully. "The Order will send anonymous messages, get a person jump and worried, and while they're so busy looking over one shoulder, the Order will strike at the other."

Poe pushed himself to his feet and picked BB-8 up and settling the cat on his shoulder. He offered Finn a hand. "Your knowledge might be even more useful that Leia first thought. If you can take a look at the pattern and see if you can guess where or how the Order might act or strike next, you may safe a lot of lives."

"It's worth a shot," Finn replied, taking Poe's hand and letting the other man pull him off the bench.

Poe smiled when Finn didn't pull his hand away, and the two began walking, out of the city park and through the familiar streets of D'Qar towards Leia Organa's home. D'Qar wasn't a large town, and you could walk most places you needed to get to. It was one thing that Finn had liked so much when he'd first arrived. The First Order bases he'd been raised on as a child were sterile, cold underground bunkers. D'Qar welcomed you, whereas the First Order camps were anything but welcoming.

When they reached the stately three story brick home of Leia Organa, Finn followed Poe up the stairs, idly glancing over his shoulder as Poe knocked on the door. 

Poe's words made him wonder if the First Order might already have eyes in the town.

He also reminded himself that the First Order preyed on your fear. The key was to be alert, but not be so paranoid you lost focus.

A tall man with eerie golden eyes and hair that Finn recognized as Cee opened the door. "Ah, Master Poe and Master Finn, you've arrived. Follow me please." 

Finn exchanged a look with Poe as they followed Cee instead, through a home decorated in what Finn supposed was a sophisticated but understated fashion, and into a large, book lined office. Leia Organa stood in front of a large mahogany desk, clearly waiting for them. Another man Finn recognized as Statura, Luke Skywalker, and Rey waited for them.

Leia nodded in satisfaction as Finn and Poe stepped into the office. BB-8 purred and shifted to lay himself around Poe's neck in a fox fur position. "Poe Dameron, Finn Smith, welcome. Thank you for coming to see me this evening. I assume, Finn, you know why I've asked you here?"

At least Leia didn't beat around the bush. "Because of my knowledge on the First Order," Finn replied, folding his arms over his chest. "Poe says he's amassed a certain amount of information about their activities that we need to examine."

Leia nodded seriously. "He has. We've complied a map of recent signs of the Order. I was hoping you could take a look and see if there was a pattern."

"I can try," Finn hedged. "Though I do have a few questions for you, at some point."

"That is all I ask," Leia replied. "Your rescue of Poe the first time was enough to admit you into D'Qar. And I imagine you do have several questions. I will do my best to answer them as time allows." She turned, pressing a button and Finn heard a soft whirring noise as a screen came out of a spot on the ceiling. Leia then turned to a laptop Finn saw on her desk typed another few buttons, projecting a map of D'Qar and the surrounding area on the wall.

"X's represent where First Order leaflets and propaganda were found. Squares represent people or locations that have received threatening messages. Triangles represent sights of kidnappings." 

Finn regarded the map, feeling Poe standing beside him, his shoulder pressed against Finn's. Finn mentally ran through lessons he'd learned as a child under the guidance of the Order. A definite pattern formed on the map, based on dates by each marking. The Order would terrorize one area, then back off, and terrorize another, slowly circling D'Qar itself, coming closer and closer to the borders of the town.

"You aren't going to like it, and neither do I, but it definitely looks as if they're working their way in, towards D'Qar," Finn said as silence stretched into minutes.

Leia sighed. "That was what we were afraid of. We need to examine this pattern, and see if we can figure out when, and how they may strike. For that, Finn Smith, we need your inside knowledge. " She raised a fine brow. "Are you in."

Finn felt himself straightening and nodded firmly. "Aye, Ma'am, I'm in."


	5. Preparation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finn considers some unsettling news and has a discussion with Poe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Star Wars belongs to Disney/LucasArts.

It was almost 2am by the time that the meeting finally adjourned. Han Solo advised Finn not to worry about coming into work until the afternoon of the following day, given the current circumstances. And it absolutely necessary, they could close the bookshop, the citizens of D'Qar would understand.

Luke Skywalker caught Finn's attention at the end of the meeting and gestured for Finn to follow him into what looked like the living room of Leia Organa's home. Poe was still talking to Leia, and Finn didn't know what else to do at the moment, so he followed Luke. Luke took a seat in a comfortable looking leather arm chair, so Finn let himself sink wearily down onto the matching couch. Luke's tartantula appeared from somewhere within the older man's coat and settled on Luke's shoulder, watching Finn with its many eyes.

The older man steepled his fingers as he regarded Finn for a moment, then leaned forward, blue eyes considering Finn curiously. "This may come as a surprise to you, considering your original...training, if we can call it that, but I believe you may have some latent talents that, with the right lessons, can be brought out and strengthened."

Finn rubbed at his forehead tiredly, wondering why the man was insisting on having this conversation at 2 in the morning. "Don't know," he replied truthfully. "We were taught ability usually appeared around puberty, later for the occasional few, and if it appeared in any of the children the First Order trained, then they were sent to the Knights of Ren for training. But most of us were told we were nulls and that it protected us from spells and were taught to hunt."

Luke shook his head, his expression turning briefly grim. "They lied, Finn. The First Order lied to you about a great many things."

"Tell me something I don't already know," Finn replied, in his weariness his tone coming out somewhat snappish, but he couldn't bring himself to be sorry, honestly, he shouldn't. This really wasn't a good conversation for this early in the morning.

Luke gave Finn a faint, lopsided smile. "I can, if you want. The truth is they trained you to use a particular subset of your ability, one that naturally guarded your mind against certain kinds of spells that might influence you, at least to anything but their own work, and they taught you to be able to sense magic. You've mentioned more than once that you know when a spell is being cast."

"Why didn't you say anything before?" Finn frowned.

"You seemed happy enough to just try and settle in and live a normal life," Luke admitted. "But yes, I probably should have mentioned it earlier. I'm sorry. I mention it now though because you might find it helpful, after this mess is sorted out, to receive some training. I'm already teaching Rey, as is Leia, we can teach you too."

Finn weighed that question in his mind and shook his head. "I can't make any decisions about that right now," he said at last. "But I will think about it, Luke. Right now I just want some sleep. Tomorrow's going to be a long day."

Because tomorrow, they would begin to put their own plan in action. They would Resist the First Order. Not entirely to Finn's surprise, Snap was evidently a skilled scout, a witch who could get in and out of difficult situations and scope out exactly where the First Order might be setting themselves up for their planned assault on D'Qar. The best tool that D'Qar had on its side was time. The First Order was still planning their assault, so the key to D'Qar's survival was for them to strike at the First Order before the Order had time to actually gather all their forces.

It would be dangerous, it would be risky, but Finn agreed it was their best bet. One thing he knew about the Order was that they were rigid in their adherence to a plan. They would not want to make any attack on a settlement as large as D'Qar without having all of their forces in place. Finn estimated though they only had a matter of days before the Order would be ready. 

He rather doubted anything was going to be 'normal' for at least the next week, assuming they all came out of this alive.

"I need to stay and speak to my sister," Luke replied. "But Rey can give you a lift back to the duplex. I will see you tomorrow, Finn."

Finn bade Luke farewell and went to find Rey. He discovered she and Poe speaking in the hallway outside of Leia's office. Poe shot Finn a reassuring smile as Rey glanced up at her friend. "You are beat," she announced in her normal blunt way. "Let's get you two back to the duplex."

"Thanks for lending me your couch," Poe told Rey. He shrugged at Finn's questioning look. "Most of my stuff is in storage right now. I haven't had a permanent place in D'Qar for awhile given my work for Leia. I'll find a place to rent once things have settled down."

Finn arched his brows. "Well, you are my soulmate. You can stay in my guest room for awhile if you want."

Poe met Finn's gaze for a long moment, then a slight smile flickered over his lips. "I'd like that, but if I am intruding, you'll tell me."

Finn snorted. "I don't think I'm going to kick you out of my house over dirty socks."

"Not quite what I meant," Poe replied as he and Finn started following Rey outside and to her car.

"I know," Finn shrugged. "Let's just get some rest right now. We can talk more in the morning."

"Everyone happy then?" Rey asked dryly as she unlocked the car.

Finn refrained from replying as he climbed into the back seat of the old Hona civic with Poe.

The ride was quiet, with Poe and Finn leaning lightly against each other in the back seat to keep from falling over, or falling asleep. BB-8 settled on Poe's lap. 

“Thanks again,” Poe told Finn as they entered Finn's side of the duplex and Finn locked the door behind them. “You don't have to do this.” He craddled BB-8 in his arms as he spoke, though the cat meowed to be let down

“I don't have to, but I want to,” Finn replied. Gently, he took an unresisting BB-8 from Poe's arms and set the orange and white cat down. BB-8 promptly trotted into the kitchen towards the food bowl Finn had put down that morning. “You don't have a place to stay right now and I have a spare room. I know, instinctively, that I can trust you, and I like you, so it's easiest if I just offer you my guest room.”

Poe watched Finn for several moments, just as he had earlier, before he finally nodded. “Alright.”

Finn showed Poe where the bathroom and spare bedroom were, along with the extra sheets, blankets, and towels in the hall closet. If Finn wasn't dead on his feet, he'd want to spend more time talking to Poe, but all Finn wanted right now was to lay down on a horizontal surface and go to sleep.

Poe paused before he entered the guest room, looking hesitant a moment before he asked. “Can I..hug you?”

Finn tilted his head a moment, then shrugged, deciding there was no harm in it.

He stepped up to Poe and wrapped his arms around the other man, and felt Poe wrap his arms back around him. For a few moments, he felt perfectly content in that embrace, accepted, wanted. It was a feeling, he decided, that he liked. 

He knew his status in D'Qar wasn't reliant upon Poe's word or presence, and Poe didn't seem to want him just because Finn had saved in years ago. Poe genuinely seemed to like Finn. His acceptance, and those of others in D'Qar, were a far cry from Finn's treatment in the order.

“Thank you,” Poe said again, his breath warm on Finn's neck. Then, reluctantly, Poe pulled back. “I'll see you in the morning, Finn.”

“See you in the morning, Poe,” Finn responded in kind.

Even after Finn returned to his own room, it was some time before he managed to fall asleep.


	6. Revelation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Snap returns from reconnaissance and the Resistance plans their attack.
> 
> Special thanks to QianLan for all their encouragement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Star Wars belongs to Disney/LucasArts

The two mornings found Finn and Poe in the kitchen, Finn carefully brewing them both tea while Poe stood over the stove making omelettes. It was an idealistic view, Finn thought, and one he wouldn't mind seeing every day. Finn felt a certain undercurrent of anxiety, knowing that the First Order was out there, planning to attack his new home, but somehow Poe's presence soothed some of that.

As Finn set a cup of tea next to Poe on the counter, he felt the desire to step up behind the other man and wrap his arms around Poe's waist. He didn't think Poe would mind, but he wasn't sure if he was ready for that yet.

For now he would settle for leaning against the cabinets near Poe.

"If you keep making eggs we're going to need to go shopping today or tomorrow," Finn told Poe lightly as he sipped his tea.

Poe shrugged. "I can always make pancakes tomorrow, though shopping may not be a bad idea, since we have been eating all your food."

"Well I don't mind the company," Finn reassured Poe, seeing a slight crease in the other man's brow.

Poe had spent part of the evening before looking through the small classified section of the local paper, looking for a new place, and Finn had found himself closing the paper and telling Poe he was just fine where he was. Between when they'd originally met two years ago and now, they'd literally only spent a few days together, but having Poe in his house, even if it was just as a roommate at this point, felt right.

Poe shot him a smile as he finished the second omelette and plopped it onto a plate. Finn grabbed silverware from the drawer and followed Poe to the small table in the eat-in kitchen. They ate breakfast in amiable quiet, perhaps both reflecting on the domestic contentment that surrounded the moment.

The Poe glanced at a text on his cellphone and sighed in minor resignation. "It looks as if Snap is back from reconnaissance."

Finn tensed a moment, knowing the past day or so of peace and quiet with Poe was about to be upended, but they'd both been expecting this. The Order was out there, and they both wanted to stop the Order from hurting their home. 

Poe reached across the table and squeezed Finn's hand, smiling slightly. "We'll route the First Order and save D'Qar. After that, maybe you and I can make this an everyday thing."

Finn found himself smiling back automatically at that thought. He picked up the breakfast dishes and put them in the sink. "Alright, let's go then."

~~

They met again at Leia's, though in a larger room that Finn suspected was meant to be a dining room, gathered around a table with a map of the area surrounding D'Qar projected in the air.

Snap was still dressed in what looked to Finn like hunting camo, his arms crossed over his chest as he described what he'd found. Leia, Han, Chewie, Luke, Rey, and half a dozen others from the town soon grouped around the table, their expressions intent.

"I'm not entirely sure how they got so close to D'Qar without us noticing," Snap rumbled as he eyed the map. "Twenty miles out, and they're definitely gathering for something. I saw ten new arrivals within the last four hours that I was watching the camp. They might not be packing modern guns, perhaps too much attention, but hunting bows, crossbows, blades, anything they can get their hands on with relative ease is in that camp."

"Rifles, pistols, and bullets require too much red tape for their taste," Finn put in as he eyed the map. "From what Snap says, they're still gathering, but they're probably planning to attack within the next week, if not the next few days. They won't want to drag it out any longer than that, too much chance of attracting unwanted attention."

"How did we miss their camp?" Statura demanded, his dower expression regarding the map with something between anger and unease on his face.

"That would be the Knights," Finn told him. "Any child found to have magical talent, well most of them, anyway," he said as Luke gave him an amused look, "Are taken out of regular training and put in with the Knights. I'm guessing the Knights have been camouflaging the camp from any security spells you all might have set up."

"I know of one of their Knights," Luke said grimly. "This revelation fails to surprise me." 

Leia frowned. "We only have the element of surprise for a little while, now. We can confirm that Snap was not traced, but we must act soon if we are going to act without putting the town in graver danger."

"Based on Order tactics, we have a day, maybe two," Finn told her. "We need to act immediately."

Statura tilted his head, gazing steadily at Finn, then nodded. "I agree with Finn's assessment. We need to strike fast and hard."

Statura had been one of the individuals who had grilled Finn for weeks upon his first arrival for information on the Order. He knew the man meant no malice towards him, and it was reassuring to hear him agree with Finn.

"So we spend the morning gathering the troops, head out at dusk?" Poe suggested. The closer to the witching out they got, the more powerful the witches D'Qar sent would be, but that would be equally true for the Knights. Still, Finn knew they could use every edge they could get.

Leia nodded. "I think we have a plan. Poe and Finn, you two prepare, Statura, you rally the witches you believe are best suited to this mission...and Han, you know who to gather. We will need both magical and mundane strength to undertake this."

"We'll destroy the camp and drive the Order away, or capture who we can," Leia continued, though there was a fierce look in her eyes. "Those who use magic to kill exact a heavy toll, so don't do so unless you must. But if you or the life of one of your comrades is in danger, do what you must."

She lifted her eyes and looked around the room. "Everyone clear?"

"Crystal." "Yes, ma'am." "Of Course."

After the rally of replies, Leia nodded. "Very well, go and prepare. You are dismissed."

Poe put a hand on Finn's shoulder as they began to exit the room. "You ready for this, buddy?" he asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Finn replied.


	7. Into the Dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Resistance executes their plan of attack on the Order.
> 
> (And sorry, I don't write battles well)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Star Wars belongs to LucasArts/Disney
> 
> I apologize to my readers now that there may not be an update next week as I will be out of town and away from my computer. I promise an update the following week. The story should wrap up the week of Halloween, which seems appropriate :)

The cool dark of night and the surrounding forest shrouded them as they crept through the undergrowth. Finn thought at first everyone was surprisingly quiet given that some of them had probably never had survival or stealth training. Later Chewie informed him with a certain air of grimness that there were certain spells that could help cloak a person's passage, encourage other people to ignore them so that they could fade more easily into the wood work. 

Chewie wasn't particularly fond of those spells himself, but he grudgingly accepted they made this easier. Rey had a particular knack for that kind of spell, no doubt passed down from her father, and she crept softly beside Finn as they moved through the trees.

Chewie and Han were close behind. Han's inclusion didn't entirely surprise Finn, he knew the man had a certain amount of training and had lived around witches most of his life, even if he wasn't magically inclined himself. 

It might have been amusing if they'd all flown on brooms here, and a few witches did have them, but an army of witches crossing the sky would attract too much attention for even the best spellworker to cover. So they took vehicle, plain, ordinary vehicles like you might take hunting and camping, and parked them a few miles away. 

Poe had gone with Luke and Snap, and a few other particular witches who would be attacking the camp from one side, while Finn and his group went from the other.

Finn smiled briefly at the memory of his parting from Poe. There hadn't been a lot of words, just a long embrace, the feeling of Poe's arms tight around Finn's shoulders, and then Poe meeting Finn's brown eyes with his own and saying, "Come back to me, so we can figure this out."

"That goes for you too, Dameron," Finn replied. Then, before he lost his nerve, he'd given Poe a quick peck on the lips, hopefully the first of many, before following Rey and Han to the SUV that Han affectionately named "The Falcon."

Finn glanced at Chewie, fairly certain that the man had his guinea pig familiar tucked somewhere in one of the pockets on his massive coat. Finn supposed at least he didn't have a familiar to worry about in this mess, though he did hope BB-8 was safe with Poe. The cat was growing on him.

"They should only have a few guards posted by the river," Finn advised quietly as Han, Chewie, and Rey gathered around him. "We can take them out quietly. The others should be able to do the same. Pick guards and hunters off slowly so that the Order won't suspect something until it's too late."

"What are we really planning here, other than destroying the camp?" Han asked with a faint frown.

"We need to take out their leaders here, if we can," Finn replied. "Hux, particularly, commands most of the hunters...he's got a captain, Phasma. She tends to view all the hunters as tools, but she doesn't condone whole sale slaughter of them the way Hux might..if she's captured you might be able to turn her to at least give up more information. Ren...well, if he's here," Finn shook his head. "I'd kill him myself if I could."

Han's brows furrowed and Rey exchanged a look with him. "Kylo Ren?" Rey asked.

Finn nodded.

"He took a stupid name, uncle," Rey said, glancing at Han.

Han sighed wearily. "If I could save my son I would, but I don't know that I can at this point."

"Take him alive if you can, but don't trust him," came Chewie's rumbling reply.

Finn decided not to touch that anymore with a ten foot pole. His goal was Hux right now. "Let's go," he said instead.

They moved carefully down a small bluff as they head the sound of rolling water, a river running almost parallel to them now. Finn lead them along the bank until they could see the glow of electric lanterns in the distance. 

From here they moved more slowly, taking steps and staying along the riverbank and the low bluff that ran beside it for as long as they could until they reached the perimeter of the First Order camp. It looked exactly as Finn suspected, careful trenches dug surrounding the camp and a variety of tents and temporary buildings, showing the Order had been here for several weeks. There was no actual fence or gate, but Finn could almost guess the kind of spells the Knights might have put on the ditches.

"Jump over, don't go through," he said, indicating the trenches themselves. He then made a fairly impressive jump over the trench, landing silently behind a particular line of tents. Rey followed gracefully, then Han and Chewie a bit more slowly, but no less quietly. Finn was fairly impressed by that.

Chewie and Han held modern hunting crossbows, because the sound of gunfire would attract to much attention, though there was a plan to take fire arms off of First Order hunters as necessary. Rey carried a fairly serious looking metal staff that Finn did not want to be on the wrong end of.

And Finn? Well, as old fashion as it seemed, he had knifes, and a single long blade strapped to his back. He drew the long sword, silently carefully, and regarded the steel in the dull glow of the lights from within the tent. Then he moved.

He began by taking down two guards that were on patrol as they came around the corner of a second tent, unapologetically ambushing them and making shorter work of the two than he expected. Had the hunters and guards gotten slower, he thought briefly?

Ten minutes gave his group time to move through the outer buildings of the camp, slowly taking down hunters and guards as they moved. Ambushes might not be considered necessarily honorable, but they were practice in this case. There weren't going to be any honor duels or fights at high midnight with the Order.

The best defense, Finn thought, is a good offense.

Thirteen minutes in, Finn could hear the sound of an alarm, and shouts coming from different sections of the camp. There must not be many Knights here, he thought, if the witches spells had worked that well to actually get them inside the camp.

He wouldn't know until later of the witches and citizens lost that night, but he would mourn them when he did.

There were hunters now, pouring out of tents and temporary shelters, as general chaos broke out.

Finn knew the total D'Qar group couldn't be more than 20, and there were probably a good fifty or more gathered for the Order. D'Qar's best break was the fact that there were only a few knights here. The Hunters were conditioned to immunity from most spells that might affect their mental state, and they wore gas masks and covered themselves head to toe so any sort of contact solution or smoke wouldn't work.

But they weren't immune to good, old fashion blades and crossbows. Nor were they immune to some of the more taxing spells that created invisible bands of force that caused them to trip, or spells that caused the ground to ice over and made them slip.

But D'Qar, at least, avoided fire, because a burning camp site could cause fire to spread to the surrounding forest.

Unfortunately, certain members of the Order had no such qualms.

When Hux emerged from his tent, geared and ready to strike down the foolish witches who dared oppose the Order, he considered the cries from different corners of the camp, the bodies he could see in the distant lantern light, and made a decision.

With a cruel smile, he moved to the camp fire that had been carefully contained to a circle, and with one gloved hand, picked up a burning branch, then moved purposely towards the surrounding canvas tents.


	8. Out of the Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Witches of D'Qar face their enemy, and Finn faces an old ally.
> 
> Again, I really suck at writing battles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Star Wars belongs to Disney/LucasArts
> 
> Thank you to all of my readers who have stuck with me. Just two more chapters to go!

Finn and Rey lost Han and Chewie somewhere in the ensuing chaos. Finn allowed himself to worry very briefly for the two men who had employed him and become something like family in the past few years, but more pressing things forced him to focus on the present. He found himself facing off against former comrades. Some part of him would later question how many of them followed the Order because they knew nothing else.

But often the most defining moments in your life were defined by choices. Finn had made a decision, years ago, to stop killing in the name of the Order and walked away.

His former comrades hadn't.

That was why when a form he knew almost as well as his own body stepped from a temporary building, eyes burning in the darkness, he didn't hesitate.

Nines glared at him in the lantern light, body tense as a tightly coiled spring. "Traitor," his old squad mate hissed.

Cold steel met Nines's metal baton. Finn knew he couldn't afford to be on the defensive in this fight even as he moved to block each swing Nines made, all the while pushing Nines back towards the tent. If he could just catch Nines unaware of the direction he was going in...

"Don't think I don't know what you're doing," the other man hissed, tossing something towards Finn's legs. Finn barely managed to avoid the bola that Nines had tossed at him, stepping to the left, and felt the ground begin to give way beneath his boot before he staggered further back. He managed to catch the Hunter's next blow off the edge of his blade, and before either of them could react any further, a crossbow bolt flew through the darkness, punching through Nines just below his collar bone, followed rapidly by another. 

Finn watched his former squad mate tumble to the ground.

There was little time to react before he caught another hunter behind him, using the adrenaline from his encounter with Nines to his advantage and making short work of the man. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Rey some feet away, dispatching another with a firm knock to the skull with her staff. She shot him a not quite feral grin before crossing the distance between them. "Any sign of Hux?" she asked.

Finn shook his head, frowning as he saw smoke rising across the camp. "Rey," he jerked his head in the direction of the smoke, and Rey's mouth thinned as they saw flames climbing against the backdrop of the darkened forest. 

"Those bastards," Rey hissed. 

"Go deal with the fire," Finn told her. "I'll find Hux."

She nodded, giving him a brief salute before she dashed across the camp.

Finn shifting his grip on his blade, letting his gaze scan the camp. He took in the forms of witches and hunters facing off in the distance, the smell of burning canvas and wood, and the bodies of the fallen scattered around him. Taking a deep breath, he focused, recalling Hux's hated face and pale flame hair. Somewhere in the distance, he almost felt as if he could sense Hux. Deciding to trust his instincts, he followed that feeling, moving relentlessly towards the burning canvas, trusting that Rey and other witches would take care of the fire and keep it from spreading to the forest around them.

He hacked his way across the field, the hunters he encountered merely an annoyance now, people he might regret killing later, but now had no time to deal with.

There was Hux, standing yards away and leaning almost idly on a cane, his hair alight against the backdrop of flames.

"FN," Hux called across the distance, and even across the yards, Finn could see the cruelty in the man's smile. "Is this how you repay the Order and all they gave you?"

"That reasoning might work if I knew the Order actually cared about its hunters," Finn shot back. His brown eyes narrowed. "Are you insane, Hux, lighting the camp on fire?"

Hux gave a nonchalant shrug. "Why should I care about this place? If it serves to cause chaos and confuse your witches, or distract them, then all the better."

Finn knew Hux was trying to anger him, to goad him into rushing across the distance, and that made Finn pause. It indicated that Hux had some kind of trap laid down for Finn.

He breathed in and breathed out, managing not to cough at the smoke moving towards him, and saw it. Uneven ground, hard to make out in the firelight, probably a pit, by Finn's reckoning. So he had to avoid it, and see if he could turn Hux's trap on him. He shifted his stance, and began to move towards Hux at a steady pace, keeping in mind where the pit was concealed by dirt. Somewhere in the distance, he heard the rumble of thunder and a shift in the air. Somewhere, witches were working the weather.

That would deal with the fire, but dealing with Hux was up to him. 

He saw Hux's snarl flare as he avoided the pit, the two men beginning to circle one another before Hux drew the blade he concealed within his cane. He took up a dueler's stance. Finn knew that Hux fancied himself a gentleman, and no doubt felt his speed with a smaller, lighter weapon might give him an edge. Hux lept forward with a surprising grace, attempting to strike Finn like a snake ready to bite its prey. But almost felt as if he could sense Hux's tells, the little signs he gave before he moved to strike, and brought his blade up with a prenatural speed to block the blow. While the longsword was heavier and to some more unwieldy than a light blade, Finn was familiar with its weight and ability, and he parried Hux's strike aside, then riposted, only just catching the edge of Hux's coat and the blade slicing off a bit of fabric as Hux stepped out of the way.

They moved through a dance of strike and counter strike, Finn knowing that Hux was trying to guide him back over the pit, and Finn avoiding it each time. He let Hux get comfortable with the dance, thinking he had an edge. Then, instead of striking back after parrying Hux's last strike, he instead slammed forward, bullrushing Hux backwards. He felt the man stagger back, not expecting the force of Finn's push, and tumble through the webbing and dirt into the deep pit that Hux had intended for Finn.

Finn stood at the edge of the pit, looking down on the other man, noticing the unnatural angle of Hux's right leg. He decided it was good enough for now and turned on his heels, leaving the other man shouting curses at him as he went to find Rey.

As he walked, he felt the first drops of rain begin to fall, coming lightly at first, and then heavier, within a few minutes beginning to soak him and everything around him, but also putting out the fire. The air was heavy with energy and carefully controlled magic. He'd once heard Chewie say that weather working was dangerous because it would interfere with the natural order of things. Finn could only hope they wouldn't be paying for this in days to come.

Over the sound of rain on canvas, he heard the clang of blade against staff not far away, and the sound of shouting.

He recognized one of those voices and broke into a run.

His steps carried him swiftly, following the sound of Rey's angry shouts at her cousin. He found them near the edge of the camp, closer to the river's edge than he might like, with Rey on the defensive against her much larger cousin. Without thinking Finn rushed forward, his blade ready.

Kylo Ren swung around, meeting Finn's blade with his own, black hair plastered against his face in the rain. His eyes narrowed as he considered Finn's blade. "That," he said, "Belongs to me."

"Then come and get it, asshole," Finn replied.

Finn felt a tug at his ankles, something trying to trip him up, and shifted to the other side, catching Kylo's next strike with his blade. Over the next few minutes, though, he began to realize that Kylo Ren was a far better-trained swordsman than he. Perhaps though, it wouldn't matter. 

Most people would say two against one wasn't fair, but none of this was about fair. He saw Rey shifting out of the corner of his eye, and knew he just had to keep Kylo distracted long enough for her to set up her own strike. He just had to hold long on enough.

He caught Kylo's forearm with one strike before the other man pushed him back. Finn could hear the sound of running water, blending with the rain, behind him, and felt the mud slick beneath his boots. He slipped on the wet dirt, wincing in pain as Kylo caught his shoulder, feeling the blade bite through cloth and into flesh. Kylo's face was mere inches from his as the blade bit further into him, slicing into muscle. He felt the Knight pressing against him with more than just the blade, a dark, malevolent force trying to influence his mind. 

"STAY OUT OF MY HEAD!" Finn's scream cut through the night, and he saw momentary shock flicker over Ren's expression as the force pressing at his mind fell away.

Then Ren fell at the sickening thud of metal meeting the back his skull, as the end of Rey's staff met the back of his head.

Finn felt relief, but his head was pounding and his vision blurring at the pain in his head, and the throb of his shoulder.

"You're alright now, Finn," he heard Rey's soothing voice, before he fell into darkness.


	9. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The D'Qar witches deal with the aftermath of the attack on the First Order camp.
> 
> Okay, I updated a little ahead of schedule. Just one chapter left! Thank you to my readers who have stuck with me!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Star Wars belongs to Disney/LucasArts

Rey stood at the threshold of the hospital room, listening to the steady beeping of the machinery. She could feel a general hum of power within the room, and knew that more than just modern medical equipment monitored the room's occupant. There were spells of binding wrapped around the figure in the hospital bed, intent on keeping him from reaching out with his own power should he awaken.

There was also a rotating guard of local witches who kept an eye on the room.

She watched her Uncle as Han hunched over, regarding the figure in the bed.

"You're a damned idiot, Ben," Han was muttering under his breath to his son. "I know your mother and I weren't the most fantastic parents, and your Uncle didn't entirely understand you, but to join in a plan to attack your home town?" Han shook his head in disbelief.

Rey hadn't initially thought she'd hit her cousin that hard with her staff, but there were some questions on whether or not Kylo Ren, more properly known as Ben Organa-Solo, would wake up.

Rey was of two minds on that subject, and she knew Poe was too. Poe had known Ben as a child, had trained with him under Luke's tutelage. There was a certain feeling of betrayal, knowing someone you once cared about had been intent on killing you. But until they knew if he would wake up or not, what would be done with Ben Organa-Solo would remain unknown.

"You tried to reach out, Uncle, he made the decision to stay with the Order, knowing what they did," she told Han.

"Perhaps," Han replied without looking up. "But that doesn't mean I shouldn't have tried harder when he was younger."

Rey sighed, knowing she wasn't going to get anywhere with Han right now. Leia Organa was being a bit more practical. She'd told Rey she felt guilty for failing Ben, but ultimately he'd made his own decision, and what to do with him was a decision Leia could ultimately not make alone, not with the risk that he might pose a danger to D'Qar or others down the line.

More disturbingly though, Hux had vanished from the pit trap that Finn had lured him into. How he'd managed to, in all the chaos and with a broken leg, the witches weren't entirely certain. There was something foul at work, they were certain, but no one had been able to track the hunter.

More fortuitous, Han and Chewie had captured Phasma. While the woman hadn't exactly seen the error of her ways and was currently under guard in what served as D'Qar's small jail, she was providing them with information on the First Order. It was she who had suggested Snoke might have something to do with Hux's disappearance.

In an effort to chase such thoughts from her mind, at least for a time, Rey wandered further down the hall to Finn's room.

Finn's recovery was, more happily, assured. While he'd lost blood, they'd managed to stop the bleeding and Chewie had gotten him back to D'Qar fast enough to the hospital that they'd been able to perform a transfusion. The doctors had told him under no certain circumstances was he to attempt anything strenuous for at least another 6 weeks. 

Poe had volunteered to help keep an eye on Finn, naturally. After the past few years undercover, he wouldn't be taking any new assignments for at least a few months. Long enough, he declared, to ensure that his soulmate fully recovered from his injuries.

Rey smiled as she heard Finn's soft laughter before even entering the room. She paused before she reached the doorway, listening for a few minutes to Poe recounting stories of his childhood in another refuge town, Yavin. As she finally rounded the corner, she saw BB-8 settled at the foot of the bed, sprawled over Finn's ankles, orange tail twitching slightly in sleep.

Her eyes fell on the odd black back that was curled against Finn's side. They'd found the black cat in the Order camp and from what they could tell, he'd been the familiar of one of the dead Knights that Poe himself had taken down during the attack on the camp. The cat had a tag that said simply "9-E," and had responded to such. The cat had followed Poe across the length of the camp when Poe had gone looking for Finn, and had promptly curled up beside Finn and refused to be left behind when Chewie transported Finn back to D'Qar.

It appeared that Finn had acquired a familiar before his training even started.

Finn noticed Rey first and smiled at his best friend. Poe glanced over his shoulder and shot her a grin. "Hey Rey, you doing alright?"

Rey shrugged. "Well as I can, with everything," she replied honestly. "Just came to see Finn for a second, let him know that once the doctors give him clearance, Father expects him to start his training."

Finn bit his lower lip for a moment, his hand unconsciously going to 9-E and stroking the cat's fur. "Am I going to have time for that along with working?" he asked.

Rey chuckled. "Yeah, Father's not talking about you training day in and day out, Finn. More like a few lessons a week. It'll probably be slower going, since you should have learned all this while growing up, but you'll get the hang of it, and I'll bet it'll help out at the bookshop eventually too."

"And I can always quiz you," Poe said, his tone vaguely suggestive.

Rey shot Poe am amused look. "And how much actual quizzing would it be? Bet you and Finn would get distracted, real quick."

Poe flushed and Finn coughed softly.

"Well we can't do much for another few weeks anyway until I get cleared by the doctors," Finn put in.

Poe's eyes lit up a little at the look that Finn shot him and Rey rolled her eyes.

"With that, I'm going to leave you two love birds alone," she said. "Try and keep the eye-fucking to a minimum."

Both Finn and Poe waved vaguely too her, but she could tell they were already wrapped up in each other, again.

Rey slipped from the room, knowing that Finn was in good hands.

Poe leaned forward a bit once Rey was gone, reaching out to take Finn's hand in his own. "Until you get clearance from the doctors, hmm?" he asked, lightly kissing Finn's knuckles.

Finn's gaze heated a bit. "As if I wasn't already half in love with you anyway, Dameron. And now we're going to have six weeks alone, where you're 'keeping an eye on me to make sure I don't do anything I shouldn't'."

"Well, most things you shouldn't anyway," Poe replied, his own eyes molten brown. "We can always get creative."

"Earth and Fire, I can't wait to get home," Finn sighed.

"Well, hopefully this will tide you over until then," Poe smiled and leaned forward, brushing his lips against Finn's.

After they broke the kiss some minutes later, Finn smirked, and replied, "Or maybe it'll take a few more of those to tide me over."

Poe laughed and leaned in to kiss Finn again.


	10. The Future

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poe and Finn have settled into life together, and plan for the future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Star Wars belongs to Disney/LucasArts
> 
> Thank you so much to my readers for their kudos and comments, particularly MayGlenn, Qianlan, and linatrinch!
> 
> And thank you to linatrinch for the inspiration for this fic ;)

_Day before Halloween_

"Poe, will you stop eating all the Reece Cups?" Finn demanded as he poured another bag of candy into the bowl by the door.

Poe managed to look slightly guilty as he picked up the wrappers from the table and disposed of the evidence of his candy filching. "It isn't as if we have a ton of candy for the kids," he protested.

Finn rolled his eyes and gave his boyfriend a kiss, amused to note that Poe tasted of chocolate and peanut butter. "Yes, but we bought that candy for the kids," he said. "We can get you more Reece cups when candy goes on sale on November 1st."

D'Qar typically held their annual trick or treat around but not on Halloween, given the importance of the holiday to most of the town. It had been six weeks since the attack on the First Order camp; six weeks of Finn and Poe living under the same roof; six weeks of the two of them living together as a couple.

If you asked either, they'd say it was the best six weeks of their lives.

They'd attend a ceremony that Leia would lead a good portion of the town in tomorrow, and then spend the holiday evening together. It was Finn's first All Hallows Eve as a witch, and his first with Poe. He was looking forward to spending it, and every other future holiday, with his boyfriend and soulmate. 

Poe pulled back from Finn a little reluctantly and glanced at the clock. "May as well get ready, the hordes will descend upon us within the next fifteen minutes." He grabbed a piece of chocolate that had fallen out of the bowl and placed it on the top. "It's cool out tonight, at least we aren't out chasing after kids while they run from house to house."

"At least not this year," Finn remarked as he started to move towards the kitchen to put tea on for the both of them.

He saw Poe's expression freeze a moment, and then a grin spread over the other man's face. "It'll probably be a few years before we go chasing after any kids on trick or treat night," he said. "I want you to myself for a little while at least."

Finn let out the breath he didn't realize he'd been holding and smiled back. "Sounds good. Two familiars are probably enough for us right now," he agreed. He didn't mind thinking about that future where he and Poe were the parents chasing after a couple of adopted kids.

The night passed quickly, with, as Poe had referred to them, a virtual horde of superheros, princess and princes, animals, dragons, and any number of other adorable costumes. They went through two bowls of candy before the continuing mass of children finally ended just after 8pm. Finn tossed a left over peanut butter cup at Poe after he'd closed and locked the door, before joining his boyfriend on the couch.

Poe handed him a cup of mulled cider as Finn leaned into the older man's side, and Poe sighed contently as Finn rested his head on Poe's shoulder. A quiet peace stole over them as they simply drank in each other's presence. 9-E and BB slept near a crackling fire in the hearth.

The past six weeks had been a learning curve for both of them. With Finn's physical therapy and recovery, and learning each other's habits and quirks. Finn was an unapologetic morning person, whereas Poe preferred to sleep in as late as he could. But Finn had learned the joys of snuggling with Poe on a weekend morning, well past 10am, before lazily heading to the kitchen to make coffee and breakfast. Nothing, Finn thought, could compare to the joy of waking up in Poe's arms.

They were dating, and living together, with no rush in their relationship now that things had settled down. Someday, they'd agreed in passing, they'd talk about marriage, adopting kids, and spending the rest of their lvies together. For now, the knowledge that their future held those things was enough.

Ben Solo still lay in a coma, Hux was still missing, and Phasma was still providing information to D'Qar. The real conflict with the First Order hadn't been resolved yet, but Finn had learned over the past few years that you had to appreciate the good while you could. 

Someday, he thought, they'd rid the world of the First Order, and be able to raise little witches in peace.

"I technically have to go back to work next week," Poe mentioned as he nuzzled Finn's neck.

Finn tensed lightly, and felt Poe's arm tighten around him. "Where are you headed then?" he asked, resigning himself to not being able to see his boyfriend for awhile. 

"No where," Poe replied. "Leia agrees that unless it's an emergency, sending me off on undercover missions probably isn't a good idea anymore, not with as well known as I am with the First Order. She wants me to help her out with business in the town, actually."

Finn lifted his head, meeting Poe's brown eyes with his own, and quirked a curious brow.

"She wants me to serve in D'Qar's administration," Poe said. "Take on more of a leadership role than a role out in the field."

"Well, you are good with people," Finn pointed out. "And keeping D'Qar running as a sanctuary for witches and others can't be an easy job to begin with, dealing with mortal authorities and all."

"That's what Leia said, or something along those lines," Poe admitted. "I'd still have to do some traveling and assignments, but for a few days or weeks at a time, instead of months or years."

"I like the sound of that a lot better," Finn admitted. "I lost you once, I don't want to lose you again."

"You'll never lose me," Poe swore.

Finn shifted then, setting his glass on a side table and straddled Poe's lap.

Poe's breath hitched as Finn leaned in close, his lips pressing against Poe's rocking gently against his boyfriend. When Finn pulled back a few minutes later, they were both breathing heavily. 

"You know I've been completely cleared by the doctors," Finn suggested as he ran a finger along Poe's collarbone. They'd fooled around quite a bit over the past few weeks, but they'd yet to actually have sex. "Maybe we should do something to celebrate."

"I'd love to," Poe replied in a hoarse voice.

"I love you, Poe Dameron," Finn said huskily as Poe pulled him in for another kiss.

"I love you too, Finn," Poe replied.

They pressed against one another, secure in the knowledge the other wasn't going anywhere, and made the most of their time together.


End file.
